Alpha Geek Maverick

A lioness must guard a geek who has a target on his back so big that the federal government is involved. Is this one case that the agency will have to hand over?

Pilar Douglas is a lion shifter working as a bodyguard while supporting her younger sister. She’d never thought that taking a job would lead to her finding her mate, until she steps into Maverick’s condo and her inner lioness screams mine!

Maverick Wilcox wants to find a cure for the disease that took his sister from him, but his efforts have been noticed by the wrong people. Now, a local group wants him to use his big brain for their own schemes, and they’ll stop at nothing to make him join them. But he’s not interested. All Maverick wants is to get to know the beautiful Pilar a little better and get her to date him.

When Maverick is poisoned, he’s ready to die instead of agreeing to help these bad guys. Even when they offer him the antidote, he says no. Fortunately, Pilar has the agency’s special serum on hand to neutralize the poison. Only now, Maverick is a big bad alpha shifter, and he’s the one calling the shots!

 Chapter 1

Pilar

Pilar was stretched out on her couch, basking in a warm shaft of sunlight that angled through the window behind her. Her skin and muscles sang under the attention of the late afternoon’s light, and she luxuriated in it, turning over to let it caress her bare belly.

A lioness on a riverbank couldn’t be happier. Like a day when all the hunting is done and all the cubs are well tended.

At the idea of cubs, her eyes opened and flickered over to the armchair on the other side of the room. Her nineteen-year-old sister, Lydia, was stretched across the chair with her legs over the side in an almost identical position to her own. The setting sun glinted off Lydia’s blonde hair, making a shimmering halo around her face. Her pale blue eyes, which were so similar to Pilar’s, were focused downward on her phone screen.

Pilar sighed, turning over again to focus on the TV. When she had first settled in, there had been an old movie on that she liked, but she must have fallen asleep at some point and missed the end. She’d woken midway through a game show, and now she was bored.

Blame the sunbeam. What cat can resist a nap in the afternoon warmth?

The sun was sinking swiftly, but she didn’t need to get up to see that. The angled rays were moving from her bare belly and thighs, sliding across the floor to paint the wall, leaving Lydia in shadow. Not that her sister had bothered to notice … her eyes were still locked on her phone.

Pilar rolled onto her belly, sighing. Cats were nocturnal, and waking from an afternoon nap feeling bored meant she was feeling like a hunt. Even if no hunting was involved, Pilar knew that food was the next best thing.

She glanced at Lydia again, wanting to ask her if she was hungry. When she saw her sister still scrolling mindlessly, she frowned but didn’t bother to say anything.

There was nothing wrong with a good, lazy scroll. Besides, Pilar was so ferociously protective of her sister that she tended to indulge her more often than not.

Whatever makes her happy. Both of us deserve a little joy.

Pilar turned her mind from that train of thought. She didn’t want to think about their misery, not now.

Just as Pilar opened her mouth to ask her sister about dinner, her phone rang. She shifted, then reached for it without getting up and answered it in a bored voice.

“Hello?”

“Pilar. I have an assignment for you.”

“Nick! Excellent. What’s the job?”

“It’s a bit different this time,” Nick said, his voice husky as if he were in a hurry. “You’ll have to room in with the client and watch him twenty-four seven.”

“Okay,” Pilar said, sitting up. “That really is different. This must be a special client?”

Already, Pilar could feel her disappointment growing. She wasn’t going to be able to take this job.

Dammit. Just when I was feeling like a good prowl would do me a world of good!

“Yeah, he is,” Nick said. “This guy is working on some very important medical research, and we don’t know who’s targeting him or why. I need you to get started on this straight away.”

“Whoa, whoa. Slow down. How long is this job?” Pilar was thinking she might be able to swing it if it was only for a few days.

“As long as it takes. It’s going to take time to track down the guys who are after him.”

“Hmm, Nick, I have to tell you, I don’t know if I can.”

Pilar had never turned down an assignment before. It was the best part of this job … using her fury and her strength to protect those weaker than herself. It helped get out her frustration and helplessness that she hadn’t been able to help her pride … leaving her and Lydia all alone.

Pilar’s eyes slid over to her sister. Lydia had finally looked up from her phone and was watching her intently with big, pale blue irises. Pilar narrowed her eyes, and her little sister bared her teeth.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Nick asked, a bit shocked.

“I have to take care of my sister … did you forget? I can’t just leave her alone for an unknown amount of time. I’ve never been away from her for that long.”

Pilar was trying to keep her usual calm demeanor, but there was a hint of panic in her blood. She’d been only sixteen when she was left alone to care for Lydia. There was a part of her that still felt like she couldn’t let go. As if taking her eyes off her sister for longer than a few hours would cause something horrible to happen.

“I know,” Nick said. “But …”

“Puh-lease,” Lydia cut in, finally putting her phone down. “I can hear you, you know. Both of you. Pilly, I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t call me that,” Pilar growled. 

“Silly, Pilly,” Lydia laughed.

“This is doing nothing to prove to me how mature and responsible you are,” Pilar said, her tone getting heated. Lydia jiggled her feet off the edge of the chair, showing her annoyance.

“I never said I was mature or responsible. I said I can take care of myself.”

“Lydia …”

“Should I call back or …” Nick uttered through the phone.

“I’m thinking!” Pilar snapped, wishing for the dull boredom that had settled on her after she’d woken from her nap. Now her brain was too full of conflict.

“Don’t call back, Nick,” Lydia said loudly. “She’s taking the job.”

“I am?” Pilar asked sarcastically.

“She is?” Nick asked, confused. “I need to know because this is an urgent request, like, now. We need someone tough who is also very perceptive and thorough. I don’t think anyone else can do it, Pilar.”

“She’s your gal,” Lydia said, going back to her phone screen.

Pilar sighed, letting the air hiss through her teeth. She still wasn’t sure. Her stomach was doing nervous flips. She wanted to get out there and do some work, but she couldn’t just walk out and leave Lydia alone.

“Sis!” Lydia snapped. Pilar looked at her, frowning. “I can look after myself,” Lydia said, her tone changing. Her eyes widened, and deep inside them, Pilar saw their shared sorrow. Lydia knew exactly why Pilar didn’t want to leave her.

“You have to let me look after myself some time,” Lydia said, her voice low and serious. “I’m nineteen. Seriously, I’ll be fine.”

There wasn’t a hint of sass in her gaze or a drop of sarcasm in her tone. Pilar frowned, knowing that her sister’s common sense had reached her where a bitchy argument would have just dug her heels in.

“Okay, Nick. I accept the job.”

“Excellent. I’ll text the details.” Nick hung up without saying goodbye, but Pilar wasn’t insulted. She ended calls the same way.

She got up and headed to her room to put on clothes after her lioness nap. Lydia came to the door while Pilar was putting on her tight pants, fitted T-shirt, and jacket.

“Oh, I love it when you go all commando,” Lydia said, leaning on the wall and somehow carrying on a conversation while jabbing the phone screen.

“To some people, commando doesn’t mean army gear,” Pilar said, putting on a vest she had, in fact, gotten at an army supply store. “It means going out with no underwear.”

Lydia snorted with laughter, still typing. “Yeah. I know you. You probably aren’t wearing underwear.”

Pilar grinned and decided to leave that part a mystery. Shifters tore through so many clothes that underwear was not always that much of a priority. As she tossed things into her duffle bag, she kept one eye on her sister, finally going to stand in front of her. Pilar whistled sharply, snapping her fingers until Lydia looked up.

“I want you to check in every day,” Pilar said very seriously. Even though Lydia rolled her eyes like an ordinary teenager, Pilar knew she was listening.

“There’s no need to worry, sis,” Lydia said, reaching out to touch Pilar’s shoulder. “I know you’re always a bit overprotective, and I’m used to that, but I really am grown up now, you know? Don’t you trust me?”

Pilar felt like that cut her right in the heart. She looked at her sister. Lydia’s big, blue eyes and golden hair were so much like her own, like their mother’s. They couldn’t look at each other without remembering their mother.

She’s strong and fierce, just like Mom. Just like me. She’s an amazing woman and a fucking badass lioness.

“Okay, you got me,” Pilar said. “I trust you to take care of yourself, but I still expect you to check in frequently, answer your damn phone when I call and let me know immediately if you have any issues. Got it?”

“I got it,” Lydia said, grinning. Pilar reached out and wrapped her arms around her sister, squeezing her tight.

“Seriously, take care,” Pilar whispered.

“Seriously, I can’t breathe.” Lydia made a fake choking sound. Pilar let her go and shoved her gently on the shoulder.

“Right, I’m gone,” Pilar said, grabbing her bag and heading out the door.

The sun had fully set now, leaving the world in pools of gathering shadow. The air was still warm, the night very young and full of promise. Even though she had been reluctant to leave, her lioness was overjoyed to be out on the prowl.

As Pilar tossed her duffle bag in the back of the car, her phone rang. She jumped into the driver’s seat, checking the screen. She let out a gasp of exasperation when she saw it was Lydia.

“Need me already, huh?” she said, answering the phone without a hello. 

Lydia laughed. “What? I’m just checking in like you said.”

They both laughed. Pilar felt warmth in her chest as they joked together. She really didn’t want to leave Lydia alone, but maybe it was time.

“I just wanted to say … maybe, it will be a cute guy, and you can finally have a boyfriend for a change,” Lydia said, teasing her. There was an undercurrent of seriousness to her sister’s tone that Pilar refused to acknowledge.

“No way,” she said, almost snapping. “I can’t get involved with a client, you know that.”

“Likely excuse,” Lydia said with a defeated sigh.

“Well, you just take care of yourself,” Pilar said. She felt like things were about to get too serious again, so she quickly changed her tone.

“And don’t you have any wild parties!” she snapped. “I don’t want my place trashed.”

Lydia laughed as they both hung up. Pilar tossed her phone onto the passenger seat and started up her Mustang, ready to head out into the deepening darkness of the coming night and all the unspoken promise it held.